Can we trust the PCEHR not  to leak?

Liaw, Siaw-Teng; Hannan, Terry

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2011.tb03287.x

Topics

In April this year, the Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, stated that by July 2012 all Australians will be able to “sign up for a personally controlled e-health record . . . [that] will enable better access to important health information currently held in dispersed records around the country”.1 Laudable aims, but can patients and clinicians trust the reliability and confidentiality of this personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR)?

1 University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW.
2 University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS.

Correspondence: siaw@unsw.edu.au

1. National eHealth Transition Authority. Draft concept of operations: relating to the introduction of a personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) system. Canberra: National eHealth Transition Authority, 2011.
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3. Stange KC, Miller WL, Nutting PA, et al. Context for understanding the National Demonstration Project and the patient-centered medical home. Ann Fam Med 2010; 8 (Suppl 1): S2-S8.
4. National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission. A healthier future for all Australians: final report June 2009. Canberra: Department of Health and Ageing, 2009. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/nhhrc/publishing.nsf/Content/nhhrc-report (accessed Jul 2011).
5. Simborg D. Consumer empowerment versus consumer populism in healthcare IT. JAMIA 2010; 17: 370-372.

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